Notes and Queries, Number 48, September 28, 1850 | Page 5

of an executioner.
10. _Mece_, A.-S., a knife. The word is found in the Sclavonic and Tartar dialects. I thinly I remember some years ago reading in a newspaper of rioters armed with "pea makes." I do not remember any other instance of its use in English.
F.Q.
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MISTAKES IN GIBBON.
The following references may be of use to a future editor of Gibbon; Mr. Milman has not, I believe, rectified any of the mistakes pointed out by the authors cited.
In the Netherlands ... 50,000 in less than fifty years were ... sacrificed to the intolerance of popery. (Fra Paolo, _Sarpi Conc. Trid._ 1. i. p. 422. ed. sec. Grotius, in his _Annal. Belq._ 1. v. pp. 1G, 17. duod., including all the persecutions of Charles V, makes the number 100,000. The supposed contradiction between these two historians supplied Mr. Gibbon with an argument by which he satisfied himself that be had completely demolished the whole credibility of Eusebius's history. See conclusion of his 16th book.) [Mendham's _Life of Pius V._, p. 303. and note; compare p. 252., where Gibbon's attack on Eusebius is discussed.]
In Forster's _Mahometanism Unveiled_, several of Gibbon's statements are questioned. I have not the book at hand, and did not think the corrections very important when I read it some time {277} back. The reader who has it may see pp. 339. 385. 461-2. 472. 483. 498. of the second volume.
In Dr. Maitland's _Dark Ages_, p. 229. seq. note, a gross blunder is pointed out.
See too the _Gentlemans Magazine_, July, 1839, p. 49.
Dr. Maitland, in his _Facts and Documents relating to the ancient Albigenses and Waldenses_, p. 217. note, corrects an error respecting the Book of Sentences.
"Gibbon, speaking of this _Book of Sentences_, in a note on his 54th chapter, says, 'Of a list of criminals which fills nineteen folio pages, only fifteen men and four women were delivered to the secular arm.' Vol. v. p. 535. I believe he should have said _thirty-two_ men and eight women; and imagine that he was misled by the fact that the index-maker most commonly (but by no means always) states the nature of the sentence passed on each person. From the book, however, it appears that forty persons were so delivered, viz., twenty-nine Albigenses, seven Waldenses, and four Beguins."
The following mistake was pointed out by the learned Cork correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, I think in 1838; it has misled the writer of the article "Anicius", in Smith's _Dictionary of Ancient Biography_, and is not corrected by Mr. Milman (Gibbon, chap. xxxi. note 14 and text):--
"During the first five ages, the name of the Anicians was unknown. The earliest date in the annals of Pighius is that of M. Anicius Gallus, Tr. Plebis A.U.C. 506. Another Tribune, Q. Anicius, A.U.C. 508, is distinguished by the epithet Pr?nestinus."
We learn from Pliny, _H.N._ xxxiii. 6., that Q. Anicius Pr?nestinus was the colleague as curule ?dile of Flavius, the famous scriba of Appius C?cus, B.C. 304, A.U.C. 450. (See Fischer, _R?m. Zeittafeln_, p. 61-2.) Pliny's words are--
"[Flavius] tantam gratiam plebis adeptus est ... ut ?dilis curulis crearetur cum Q. Anicio Pr?nestino."
Gibbon's chapter on Mahomet seems to be particularly superficial; it is to be hoped that a future editor will correct it by the aid of Von Hammer's labours.
J.E.B. MAYOR.
Marlborough College.
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MINOR NOTES
_"Ockley's History of the Saracens," and unauthentic Works._--At the end of a late edition of Washington Irving's _Life of Mahomet_, those "who feel inclined to peruse further details of the life of Mahomet, or to pursue the course of Saracenic history," are referred to Ockley. Students should be aware of the character of the histories they peruse. And it appears, from a note in Hallam's Middle Ages (vol. ii. p. 168.), that Wakidi, from whom Ockley translated his work, was a "mere fabulist," as Reiske observes, in his preface to Abulfeda.
Query, Would it not be well, if some of your more learned correspondents would communicate to students, through the medium of "NOTES AND QUERIES," a list of such books as are genuine but not authentic; and authentic but not genuine, or altogether spurious? or would point out the sources from which such information can be obtained?
P.H.F.
_The Hippopotamus._--Your correspondent L. (Vol. ii., p. 35.) says, "None of the Greek writers appear to have seen a live hippopotamus:" and again, "The hippopotamus, being an inhabitant of the Upper Nile, was imperfectly known to the ancients." Herodotus says (ii. 71.) that this animal was held sacred by the Nomos of Papremis, but not by the other Egyptians. The city of Papremis is fixed by B?hr in the west of the Delta (ad ii. 63.); and Mannert conjectured it to be the same as the later Xo?s, lying between the Sebennytic and Canopic branches, but nearer to the former. Sir Gardner